In our annual study with Great Learning, we examine the landscape of job requiring data science and analytics competencies and skills. Our market snapshot gives a quick view of the evolving talent market and highlights how employees need to develop a blend of skills to strive ahead in data science roles. The report clearly demonstrates while skills in Python and Java are highly sought-after, a professional programmer or a data analyst should have the ability to learn new coding languages. It also highlights the need for work-based learning opportunities which will help employees gain the necessary skills. Many companies have mentor-style programmes to help employees understand and upgrade the skill-set needed at the workplace.

The report seeks to provide forward-looking insights for recruiters and hiring companies to build a detailed understanding of their talent needs, counter the skills gap in their workforce strategy and build a talent pipeline and also highlight the talent hotspots in India. The research presented in this report has been collected through a mix of analysis from publicly available data and other information sources.

Open Analytics Jobs in India

Top Trends In Data Science Jobs

1) Job Openings in Data science sector in 2019: There has been an overall growth in the number of jobs in analytics and data science ecosystem with India contributing to 6% of open job openings worldwide. The total number of analytics and data science job positions available are 97,000. Out of these, 97% job openings in India are on a full-time basis while 3% are part-time or contractual.

2) Forecasting annual growth in data science professionals in 2018: Compared to the numbers in 2017, last year had an optimistic job growth with a 45% increase in open job requirements

3) Increase in analytics jobs offering more than 15 lakh per annum:There has been an 2% increase in the numbers of analytics jobs offering more than 15 Lakh annual salary as compared t0 2017.

4) Top industries hiring analytics talent: BFSI sector has the maximum demand for data science skills in India followed by e-commerce and telecom

5) Python will continue to dominate the market: Python continues to be the tool of choice among data analysts and data scientists and this is reflected in the hiring market as well with 17% jobs listing the language as a core capability

6) Talent hotspots in India: As per our research, Bengaluru leads the jobs market with a mature analytics ecosystem accounting for 24% of analytics jobs in India. The other hubs are Delhi/NCR and Mumbai market and in addition to this, data science and analytics markets are also forming in Tier-B cities

7) Hiring trend indicates demand for junior level talent rises: According to our estimate, as compared to previous year, the hiring trend has been more favourable for young talent with 21% jobs being posted for freshers

Highlights

While, it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of open analytics job openings; according to our estimates, close to 97,000 positions related to analytics & data science are currently available to be filled in India.

This is almost 45% jump in the open job requirements, compared to same time a year back.

Compared to worldwide estimates, India contributes 6% of open job openings currently. Growth in the number of data science jobs globally was much higher than India

Last year India contributed 10% of worldwide open job requirements which has decreased to 6% this year, even though there have been an overall growth in numbers

Analytics Jobs By Cities

In terms of cities, Bengaluru accounts for around 24% of analytics jobs in India. This is a decrease from 27% a year ago

Delhi/ NCR came second contributing 22% analytics jobs in India, up slightly from 21% a year ago

Approximately 15% of analytics jobs are from Mumbai. This is significantly up from 12%, last year

Tier-2 cities have also contributed to the growth of analytics jobs with numbers rising from 5% in 2016 to 7% in 2017. There was a steady increase until 2018 but the numbers dropped to 10% in 2019

Analytics Jobs By Industry

Financial Institutions lead in hiring Analytics & Data Science talent

The Banking & Financial sector continues to have the biggest requirements for analytics professionals. 38% of all jobs posted for analytics were from the banking sector. There is a dip in hiring BFSI sector as compared to 2017 which accounted for 41% job openings

Around 12% of analytics jobs were in the e-commerce sector as opposed to 8% in 2018, 10% in 2017 and 14% in 2016

The Telecom industry saw the biggest fall in number of analytics jobs advertised. Just 4% of analytics jobs in India are from the Telecom sector as opposed to 8% last year

Experience Requirement For Analytics Jobs

Hiring at fresher and mid-level picks up

There has been an overall shift towards hiring for entry-level roles in analytics in 2018

Around 70% of analytics openings are for candidates with less than 5 years of experience

21% analytics jobs posted are for freshers and this number has risen to 17% from last year

31% analytics job openings are for professionals with more than 5 years of work experience. There is a dip in hiring at mid-stage level as 2017 reported a 38% job postings for professionals with 5+ years of experience

Analytics Jobs Across Tools/Skills

Skills in demand in 2019

Python continues to reign as the tool of choice, thanks to its versatility. As per our research, the demand for Python professionals is the highest among all analytics recruiters

Almost 17% of all advertised analytics jobs in India demand for Python as a core skill whereas 16% demand Java

R skills comes third in the most critical skills required with 10% of all analytics jobs looking for R professionals

Among BI tools, Tableau skills continue to be most in demand, followed by Microsoft Power BI & Qlikview

Among cloud solutions, analytics recruiters demand AWS as the most preferred skill, followed by Azure

Among Big data tools, Hadoop skills are most in demand, followed by Spark

SQL continues to be the most popular database platform among analytics recruiters followed by NoSQL and MongoDB

This year we also looked at which statistical technique do analytics recruiters demand the most. Segmentation is the most in demand skill followed by clustering and classification

Analytics Jobs By Salaries

Breakup of salary band in Analytics & Data Science Roles

The median salaries being offered by advertised analytics jobs in India is INR 11.5 Lakh/ annum

There has been an increase in the numbers of analytics jobs offering more than 15 Lakh annual salary.23% of all advertised jobs last year were offering more than 15 Lakhs as opposed to 20% a year before

25% of all analytics jobs offer a salary range of 6-10 lakh, followed by 22% for 3-6 lakh annually

Almost 60% of all advertised analytics jobs in India offer a salary of less than 10 Lakh per annum

Analytics Jobs Across Company Type

Analytics & Data Science Jobs across Company Types

Almost 60% of all demand for analytics professionals is from the MNC IT & KPO Service Providers in India

Just a year ago, captive centres in India used to have the most number of analytics job requirements in India. Their contributions to open jobs have reduced significantly this year

13% of all analytics jobs advertised are by Domestic IT & KPO service providers, down from 21% a year ago

4% of analytics jobs advertised are by Indian companies that require analytics for internal consumption

Broader Trends Affecting Data Science Areas

Scaling up skilling: As more talent gets concentrated in metro areas, recruiters will tap into this market to hire talent. In addition to this, large diverse metro areas will become the hub for educational initiatives undertaken by internal stakeholders and external organisations.

Acqui-hiring is big in Data Science: With the continued lack of talent plaguing the technology sector in India, the acqui-hiring trend has taken off in popularity in India and we are seeing big tech firms snapping up data science consulting firms in a bid to bolster their bench strength.

Workforce to create new forms of value: In addition to this, companies are increasingly looking inwards to identify whether they have the talent to capitalize on new opportunities that can reshape the nature of industry.

Workforce prioritises skill development: On the other end of the spectrum are employees who are on a path for lifelong learning approach to skills development. As leading institutes respond to the rising demand for analytics skills with tailored programs, skills development programs will play a critical role in updating the analytics capabilities and preparing the workforce for new roles.

Traditional Indian IT giants are starting accelerators/incubators: Over the last few years, we have seen traditional Indian IT companies spawning new divisions or accelerators to develop a new product/service stream outside the main organisation. In a bid to pivot to newer tech domains and capitalize on emerging technologies, companies are diversifying their portfolio by building new teams and setting up new divisions. Case in point is Reliance Jio that is building a team to work on machine learning and AI. With the advantage of being backed by larger corporations, these entities are able to attract talent.

Conclusion

As analytics as a discipline becomes more entrenched across domains, especially in India’s financial services sector, organisations and high-growth startups are on a hiring spree. However, the market continues to be employer-driven and finding the right talent is a growing challenge for organisations and startups. On the skill side, as more companies bolster their analytics capabilities, they are aggressively hiring professionals with sound technical knowledge. A key takeaway is that the analytics and data science talent supply will not be able to keep pace with job growth. In other words, there isn’t enough analytics talent and organisations will continue to face hiring challenges.

Richa Bhatia is a seasoned journalist with six-years experience in reportage and news coverage and has had stints at Times of India and The Indian Express. She is an avid reader, mum to a feisty two-year-old and loves writing about the next-gen technology that is shaping our world.